Tag: essays

Yaaasss, a new book, just been released today on Amazon, Drag: Combing Through the Big Wigs of Show Business contains 100 essays and photos of personal stories involving drag culture. The book explores the current era of drag, and at the same time reflects on the history of drag, and those who pave the way for drag artists everywhere. New Now Nextreported that author Frank DeCaro’s new book aims to teach children the history of drag before the RuPaul’s Drag Race era. Check out the description below for more information about the title, which is published by Rizzoli Publications!

Since man first walked the Earth…in heels, no other art form has wielded as unique an influence on pop culture as Drag. Drag artists have now sashayed their way to snatch the crowns as the Queens of mainstream entertainment.

Through informative and witty essays chronicling over 100 years of drag, readers will embark on a Priscilla-like journey through pop culture, from television shows like The Milton Berle Show, Bosom Buddies, and RuPaul’s Drag Race, films like Some Like It Hot, To Wong Foo…, and Tootsie, and Broadway shows like Hedwig and the Angry Inch, La Cage aux Folles, and Kinky Boots.

With stops in cities around the globe, and packed with interviews and commentaries on the dramas, joys, and love that “make-up” a life in wigs and heels, Drag features contributions from today’s most groundbreaking and popular artists, including Bianca del Rio, Miss Coco Peru, Hedda Lettuce, Lypsinka, and Varla Jean Merman, as well as notable performers as Harvey Fierstein and Charles Busch. It includes more than 100 photos–many from performers’ personal collections, and a comprehensive timeline of drag “herstory.”

featured image via newnownext.com

Writer and actress Jenny Slate is one of the funniest women working in Hollywood today. Now, she’s bringing her signature humor to a new book.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Slate talked about her upcoming book Little Weirds, which is a collection of essays that Slate says “will explore what it’s like to be a female in a misogynistic culture”.

Slate landed a book deal in 2017 with Little, Brown and Company to publish a collection of feminist essays in 2019. Now, EW has an exclusive look at the cover of the book.

Image Via Entertainment Weekly

“The title explains exactly what is inside the book: It is a an expression of my truest voice, a tour of my inner world, and all of it is made of small, odd pieces. I started to call them ‘Little Weirds’ as a way to honor the pieces but not label them traditionally.”

And as for the cover:

“I asked for an image that was fun but not immature, for an image of a celebration of plurality and curiosity and beauty and pleasure. I asked for both a brontosaurus and a hamburger. I asked for a little bit of everything. I think we got it just right.”

Little Weirds will be published November 5th. It is available for pre-order now.

When first released in 2016, Hillbilly Elegy became an unexpected hit. Written by J.D. Vance, it follows Vance through his childhood and his escape from poverty to become both a Marine and a graduate of Yale. His story paints a portrait of America that many people can relate to. The popularity of the book skyrocketed Vance to media fame and Netflix is preparing a film adaptation directed by Ron Howard.

Image Via Amazon

But there are aspects of the book that have garnered criticism. Specifically, its portrayal of Appalachians has been slammed as problematic. Growing up in Kentucky and Ohio, Vance writes about the mountain region and the people that he knew throughout his childhood and teen years. The language used to describe Appalachians is disparaging, even going so far as to dismiss Appalachian people generally as “lazy”.

In response to these criticisms, Meredith McCarroll, the Director of Writing and Rhetoric at Bowdoin College, and Anthony Harkins, associate professor at Western Kentucky University, have teamed up to bring Appalachian Reckoning, a collection of essays that offer a retort to the portrayal of Appalachians within Vance’s book.

Image Via WVUPressOnline

With forty-one essays spread across forty contributors, the collection doesn’t say that Vance is entirely wrong in what he writes, but instead seeks to offer a new viewpoint on Appalachian people that is less narrow. The introduction describes the collection as “a book born out of frustration” from people who only get their view of Appalachia from Vance’s book.

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